Lunenburg, Leominster hockey squads skate into postseason

LUNENBURG — Two high school hockey teams from the North are enjoying the tournament-time excitement that only March Madness can offer.

Skating into big, semifinal games this week in different Central Massachusetts divisions are the squads from Lunenburg and Leominster.

In the Central Mass. Division 3A Tournament, the Blue Knights of Lunenburg, after defeating Grafton 4-0 last week, were scheduled to face Worcester in semifinals at the Wallace Civic Center in Fitchburg.

Leominster, after edging Algonquin 3-2 in the Division 3 quarterfinals, were set to skate against top-ranked Shrewsbury at the New England Sports Center in Marlboro. Both games were set for March 5.

Coached by Eric Short, Lunenburg won the Coughlin Conference Championship for the first time since 2003, finishing 7-0-3 in the league. Overall, entering the tournament semifinals, the Blue Knights were 15-2-4.

Lunenburg is led by senior captains Alec McNamara, Tom Wagner, Dan Baldino and Josh DeFazio. Goalie McNamara turned in his seventh shutout of the season against Grafton.

"This is the first time in my four years that we've made it past the quarterfinals, so it's real exciting," said McNamara. "If we keep playing to our potential, we can keep our season going."

With 15 victories, the Blue Knights are just one win away from the most wins the team has amassed since the squad combined with players from Ayer and Shirley several years ago.

"We had 15 wins in 2003, so this has been a very successful year,' said Short, who was an assistant coach for two seasons and has been the head coach for the past 13. "We've played 21 really good games, and our few losses were hard-fought games."

The Blue Knights went unbeaten for two months, not losing a game until Fitchburg edged them 1-0 on the first day of February.

Much of the success of the Leominster team, which enters the semifinals with a 12-7-2 record, can be attributed to senior goalie Logan Bergeron, who turned away 32 shots against Fitchburg late last month when the Devils clinched a postseason berth.

"The story of our season is real easy," said Leominster's first-year head coach Steve King. "When we have Logan in net, we're a different team. He's the kind of kid who can win hockey games."

Against Shrewsbury in a win earlier in the season, Bergeron had an amazing 40 saves.

Leading the way on offense — and Leominster has lit the lamp 81 times throughout the season — are Matt LaVanway, Matt Richard and Brandon Lefebvre, along with top scorer Cam Cordio and linemates Matt Williams and John Duffy.

Entering the tournament semifinals, Leominster, which placed second in the Roy Conference, had won four straight games.

Assisting King in his coaching duties are Barry Hudson, who is also the Leominster High band director, and former Fitchburg State University star goalie Bob Vorse.